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Social Media in South Korea - 2023 Stats & Platform Trends

Last Updated: October 30, 2023
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How is social media in South Korea?

South Korea boasts one of the highest internet penetration rates in the world, with 98% of its population having access to the internet. This is higher than that of other highly connected countries such as Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan. Being the first country to commercially roll out 5G, it also has some of the fastest internet speeds in the world, which allows for many innovations across a variety of industries. One recent example of this is Naver’s launch of Dolby Vision-capable live commerce.

Combining such a matured infrastructure across the country, with the local innovation and tech community fostered by both government and large corporations. South Korea also has one of the most vibrant and versatile social media ecosystem in the world. With their local companies, such as Kakao, having the most active users in the country, which is different from other countries where Meta-owned social platform generally top the rank.

Historical Internet Penetration
Unit: % of Total Population
Cellular Subscription %
Unit: per 100 People

Social Media's User Demographics in South Korea

Given the latest survey available, in South Korea there are about 47.2 million active social media users (Log in at least once in a month) in 2022. This is about 91.2 % of the addressable  demographics. Also, Throughout 2021 to 2022, the number of users has grown 2.2 %.

Social Media User Demographics
Note: Meta's figure as reference, 2022

Key Drivers of Using Social Media in South Korea

Source: GWI. Users aged 16-64 years old

Key Accounts Followed For Users in South Korea

Source: GWI. Users aged 16-64 years old

What Platforms are Users in South Korea Typically on?

The social media scene in South Korea is distinct in several ways. One of these is that the most widely used platform, KakaoTalk, is not really used out side of the country. Despite this, South Koreans rely heavily on it, with over 87% of the population using it. That is four times that of Messenger, which is the second most popular chat app in South Korea and is used by only around 20% of the population.

Last year there was an incident where a 10-hour service disruption caused by a fire in their data centers led to a series of unfortunate events. Users’ messaging, payments, banking, ride-hailing, maps, and games were all affected. The President even publicly urge for a quicker response action to get the service back online.

Most Used Platforms, 2022
Unit: %
Most Liked Platforms | 2022
Unit: %

How's Facebook Doing in South Korea?

With the latest data published in January 2023, we can see that at the growth rate of 1.01%, there is now around 25.6 million Facebook users in South Korea . With male users account for around 48.35% and female users account for around 51.65%.

Facebook Users as a % of Population in South Korea
Unit: %
Facebooks Users in South Korea
Unit: '000 Thousands
Facebook User Penetration in South Korea
Unit: % of Total Population
Facebook User By Age Group in South Korea
Note: As legal restriction, figure of 13-17 is often underestimated(underreported) and 18-24 is overestimated|Unit:'000 People
Facebook User Age Penetration in South Korea
Note: Number may exceed 100% as multi-accounts holders or fake accounts prevail in the country|Unit: %

How's Instagram in South Korea?

With the latest data published in January 2023, we can see that at the growth rate of 1.13%, there is now around 21.18 million Instagram users in South Korea . With male users account for around 45.18% and female users account for around 54.82%.

Instagram Users as a % of Population in South Korea
Unit: %
Instagram Users in South Korea
Unit:'000 People
Instagram User Penetration in South Korea
Unit: % of Total Population
Instagram User By Age Group in South Korea
Note: As legal restriction, figure of 13-17 is often underestimated(underreported) and 18-24 is overestimated|Unit:'000 People
Instagram User Age Penetration in South Korea
Note: Number may exceed 100% as multi-accounts holders or fake accounts prevail in the country|Unit: %

How's TikTok in South Korea?

With the latest data published in January 2023, we can see that at the growth rate of 2.16%, there is now around 6 million TikTok users in South Korea . With male users account for around 0.418 and female users account for around 0.582.

TikTok Users as a % of Population in South Korea
Unit:'000 People
TikTok User Penetration in South Korea
Unit: %

How's LinkedIn in South Korea?

With the latest data published in January 2023, we can see that at the growth rate of 1.09x, there is now around 3.45 million LinkedIn users in South Korea.

LinkedIn Users as a % of Population in South Korea
Unit: %
LinkedIn Users in South Korea
Unit:'000 People
LinkedIn User By Age Group in South Korea
Unit:'000 People
Reference
  • Internet & Cellular Subscription:World Bank, ITU
  • Currency Exchange: Based on IMF data in 2023/1
  • Demographics: UN Population Database
  • Social Media Behavior: GWI, Hootsuite 2022 Digital Report
  • Meta, LinkedIn Data: Napoleon Cat Stats
  • Data Calculation & Regression:OOSGA.org
  • Analysis:OOSGA Analytics
  • Note: The data for monthly platform usage and the data for the most frequently used platforms are sourced from different research, hence there may be discrepancies in the numbers as both are estimated rather than real figure.
Author: CR Team

Our consumer research practice tracks what customers spend and how they make decisions across major economies in the world.

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